Sunday, October 22, 2006

Day 5 - Taronga Zoo

Weather: Brilliant sunshine and fair the whole day, again

HM and I went our separate ways today. She was finally well enough for a gym fix and I wanted to see Taronga Zoo which she had been to before. We both left at 8.20 a.m. but she had to go back to the hotel room to retrieve her gloves.

Took Bus 380 to Circular Wharf, to take a ferry to the zoo from Wharf 2. I had half an hour to wander around before that, eat a beef pie for brekkie, and buy a Sydney Morning Herald (yay, now the proud owner of a Leunig 2005 calendar). I also bought a falafel wrap for lunch. The beef pie was somewhat salty - I preferred the chicken pie from the same pie shop.

entrance to Taronga Zoo

eh, I need shoulders to sit on too

Taronga Zoo was crowded, chockful of kindy kids with parents on a field trip (probably some family day thang) and many a tourist, local and foreign. It wasn't all that bad (I've seen worse at Mandai) but it did make watching the animal shows impossible and getting on the ferry home difficult.

a lunch date

hehe caught in the act

anything you can do, I can do better...

what interesting plumage

posed picture?

The zoo was laid out like Mandai, with many open concept enclosures and walkthroughs. The Keen Family Environmentally Friendly House was an excellent exhibition on being green. I also liked the children's zoo where I patted two lizards, one with skin that looked and felt like tree bark and one (a blue-tongued lizard?) that felt like a snake, ewww. Actually it didn't feel bad. It was quite smooth and silky almost. The falafel wrap was really quite yummy, especially the tabouli bits. No cheese!

awww, reminds me of a certain critter I once knew

the person before me...

so cute

let's play follow the leader.

oh wow history in the flesh

that's a good boy!

Coming back from the zoo meant another ferry ride, whee, and another jaunt through Circular Wharf.

ok everyone has to take one of these photos...

ain't that cool?

Reunited in the evening, HM having grilled herself on the beach in Bondi, we made a quick pre-dinner foray into King's Cross. Went up Darlinghurst Road and returned via Victoria Street. We were glad that we hadn't chosen to stay in the area - way too sleazy...

We located Govinda's but decided against having dinner there, in view of the next evening's pilgrimage to Tetsuya's. It wouldn't do to overstuff oneself at an all-you-can-eat buffet one day before the main event, would it?

Our choice of dinner venue was Betty's Soup Kitchen, one of two restaurants which HM really wanted to revisit (Pho Pasteur being the other one). HM's lamb stew and mash was good, especially the peas, while my spaghetti bolognese was a tad sweet for my liking. Still, I liked the restaurant, with its nostalgic feel and homey food.

...where good food is served

We wandered into Berkelouw, the bookstore next to Sullivans. That's the nice thing about Sydney - bookstores open till 11 or 12, way later than the boutiques and shopping centres. Stocked with books new, second-hand and antiquarian, it reminded so much of Skoob Books. Nice!

We had coffee and dessert while watching people emerge from the Verona, the arthouse cinema next door. We gathered that Monday night movie watching was relatively popular which was not surprising given that ticket prices were down to A$9 from the usual A$13 on Mondays. It was my first taste of lavender and honey cake. I have to say, the first taste reminded me of toiletries...